A teacher charged with the rape of a 14-year-old pupil was found deceased in his prison cell on September, 26 under strange circumstances. Brandon Holbrook, 30, was a substitute teacher working at Bernard Middle School in St Louis, Missouri when he allegedly sexually assaulted the young student.
Brandon Holbrook was found unresponsive and propped up in an upright form in his cell by St Louis County prison staff who quickly discovered he was dead, the Mirror reports. Staff carried out emergency CPR on Holbrook and administered Narcan, a drug which revokes the body's reaction to an overdose, after they suspected the prisoner had committed suicide.
However, his death remains a mystery and police are still questioning how he passed. Officers arrived to his cell at around 3.15pm and found Brandon to be perfectly normal but just 30 minutes later he was found unconscious.
He was quickly rushed from St Lewis County prison to Barnes-Jewish hospital but was pronounced dead just an hour later. An investigation has been launched to figure out the cause of his death.
The outcome of the autopsy report is expected to arrive soon. Brandon was charged with raping a 14-year-old student three times and two more accusers have since come forward.
The former middle school teacher allegedly groomed his former student online after arranging to meet up with her on social media. Police alleged he came to her house on three different occasions and raped her each time.
The teacher was just two weeks away from an initial hearing and was about to be charged with three counts of second-degree statutory rape and six counts of second-degree statutory sodomy. Doug Moore, spokesman for County Executive Sam Page, said Brandon had been on the eighth floor quarantining in his cell after waiting for a second negative Covid test result.
He was due to move back in with the rest of the prisoners once he received the all clear. Prior to that, the teacher had met with health officials and was seemingly fine.
Doug admitted: "Holbrook had met with a mental health case worker earlier that day, and he was fine." He added there was "nothing in his cell indicating he injured himself at all' and has admitted 'we just don't know what happened".
Brandon's lawyer, Scott Rosenblum, had talked to his client just days before and said he "knows for a fact" that he was not suicidal and admitted his death was "very unusual". He said: "We had been speaking with him and he was very logical and he was cogent, coherent and participating in his defence.
"Under the circumstances, he was optimistic and upbeat. He was still enjoying very close family ties." Prison officials are to check the iPad Brandon was using for calls and emails to family members to help give them an idea of what may have happened.
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